Landslide Caused Pipeline Explosion on Leach Xpress Line

A preliminary investigation report notes that “land subsidence” was the cause of a June 7th pipeline explosion near Moundsville, West Virginia, in other words, a landslide. An 83-foot section of the 36-inch diameter pipeline was “ejected from the ditch and deposited in the right of way” by the explosion and the fireball consumed approximately $430,000 worth of natural gas. Fortunately, there were no injuries or reports of private property damage. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration of the USDOT issued a Notice of Proposed Safety Order on July 9 that also noted that a geotechnical flyover after the explosion by the pipeline operator, TransCanada, has identified 6 other areas of concern due to the existence of large spoil piles, steep slopes, or indications of slips. Part of the mitigation for the accident is for TransCanada to perform additional geohazard surveys and monitoring.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been enjoying watching the 2010 Olympic Winter games over the past few days. If you have, you know that Whistler is the venue for many of the sports including alpine skiing, luge, skeleton, bobsled, ski jumping, biathlon and cross-country skiing among others. The Whistler area is located about 50-miles or so North of Vancouver. In order to get to Whistler, you need to drive along Highway 99, better known as the Sea-to-Sky Highway. This highway has a long history of geotechnical problems, including some significant structurally controlled rockslides and landslides. In the years leading up to these Olympic Games a fair amount of work was done on the highway with some significant geotechnical innovations.

Last Sunday, April 25, 2010 a major landslide covered a 300-m plus stretch of Taiwan’s National Freeway No. 3, killing at least 4 people and burying three cars and destroying a bridge. The estimated volume […]

Torrential rain in the World Cup city of Natal caused a landslide right around the time that the USA defeated Ghana. According to the Landslide Blog, the landslide destroyed 50 homes but there were no […]